Solera looked away from the creating process to look through his backpack. He had just remembered about the control lessons Chianti would give him. He still didn’t know how to make the helmet work!

“Hold up for a second, Chip.” Solera took out the control kit, lifting it up for Chip to see. “Can you help me with something?”

Chip rolled his sleeve back down, shrugging. “What?”

“I don’t know how to make this thing work.” Solera got off his bunk and took out the helmet. It was made of a translucent and soft, doughy substance. If Solera squeezed it between his fingers, it would squish.

Chip took the helmet and pushed it onto his head. The helmet stretched, changing shape to fit the form of Chip’s skull. Chip concentrated as he channeled power out of his head.

The helmet immediately lit up with dark red lines. Solera squinted and saw that these dark red lines were actually from the lines formed on a talisman embedded into the bottom of the helmet.

The red lines disappeared, and Chip pulled it off. “What’s the problem?”

Solera frowned. “I can’t get these balls to move.” He took a ball out and handed it to Chip.

Chip grabbed the ball, giving it a short glance before raising an eyebrow. His gaze swept over Solera with some disdain.

“You didn’t insert the talisman into the helmet.” Chip said as he pulled on a tab on the ball. From the ball, a talisman popped out, which Chip inserted into a slot in the helmet.

Solera groaned in embarrassment. He understood now how stupid of a question he had been asking. He was lucky to have asked Chip and not Chianti!

“Thanks very much.” Solera mumbled, taking the helmet and ball back.

“You can try it… outside.” Chip waved his hand dismissively and sat back down on his chair. He unrolled his sleeve, staring at Solera. Solera stared back, confused.

“Well, what are you waiting for? If you’re going out, then go.” A twinge of impatience could be heard in Chip’s voice. Nodding, Solera hurried out of the room.

Solera looked around as he closed the door. He was inside a corridor which led to the common room, where he could practice. The common room had several sofas and a table, but was otherwise empty. There was a staircase which led up to the second floor, and a door that led to the cages on the side of the Bamboo Eagle.

As Solera put on the helmet, the door opened. Pinot quietly slipped in, tying her pantstrings as she did. When she saw Solera, her face turned beet red and she immediately ran down the hall, slamming shut the door to her room.

Solera didn’t know how to react to that, so he continued to put on his helmet. His eyes narrowing, he began to channel power out of his head and into the helmet. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the glowing red circuit appeared in his helmet. Solera recoiled back, slamming into the sofa. Inside his mind, he felt something new! It was hard to describe, but it was like he had gained another muscle he could freely manipulate.

This muscle was the ball in his hands.

Solera set it down on the ground and concentrated. This was because Solera had no idea how to control this new muscle; he was like a baby who could not yet walk. As a result, the ball rolled around every which way. Although it was under his control, he could not control it.

After a few minutes, Solera flopped back into the sofa, sighing. The ball’s mechanics were completely foreign to him. If he could not even figure out how to control a single rolling ball, how would he ever compare to experts, who could control hundreds of flying explosives or five golems?

Solera picked up the ball, rolling it across the ground. Then, an idea popped into his mind. He held the ball in place and tried moving it again, to see which way it would go. After a few minutes, he grinned and let go of the ball, which began to travel in a straight line.

He had isolated a single signal to send to the ball. This signal had the ball roll in a specific manner! Before, Solera had been sending a jumble of messages, which had made the ball roll around haphazardly. While sending that first signal, Solera began to send another one; the ball turned, rolling in circles.

Excitedly, Solera began to isolate the other signals, to see what they did. There were infinitely many signals, each of which would make the ball go in a slightly different direction. Isolated, each signal would cause the ball to go in a straight line, but when they were combined, the ball could turn, skid, and even spin!

Solera realized that maneuvering a ball was incredibly complex, and completely different from walking! As he was on the floor, trying to get the ball to roll up his body and onto his back, Chianti walked in.

Seeing his prostrate body on the floor, she raised an eyebrow. “Whatcha doing, Solera?” She asked, holding back a smirk.

“Practicing.” Solera mumbled, holding up the ball for her to see. Did she really have to come in at that particular moment?

“Cool, let me see.” Chianti squatted down next to Solera, placing the ball back onto the floor. Solera made the ball go in a circle around her and then between her legs, before instantly reversing direction and rolling back to him, where it began to spin.

“Wow, that’s very impressive.” Chianti nodded cheerily. “Try using two balls next time.”

Solera blanched. It took him all of his concentration to do that! Two balls? Forget even making them go in a straight line, Solera probably wouldn’t even be able to move both at the same time.

“Not right now, though.” Chianti smiled as she looked into Solera’s eyes, making his heart palpitate. “It’s time for lunch. Wanna help me knock on people’s doors?”

Nodding, Solera got up and walked down the corridor, while Chianti went to the second floor. The kids filtered into the common room, taking seats on the sofas and the floor. When Solera knocked on Pinot’s door, she answered the door, but immediately slammed it shut. A few seconds later, Cassady opened the door, nodding as Solera explained that it was lunchtime.

Solera scratched his head, completely confused as to why Pinot was acting in that manner. Girls were just too confusing. The last room he knocked on was his own. After telling Chip and Qiao, he tossed the helmet and ball onto his bunk and dragged Guinness into the common room.

Chianti was standing there, a smile on her face. “It’s lunch time, guys! But guess what? There’s no food, because I can’t be arsed to make food for all of you!”

After the kids stopped groaning and yelling, she continued. “You guys are going to make the food yourselves!” She pointed at the trays behind her. “There’s bread, there’s ham, and there’s cheese, I want no leftovers. Enjoy!”

Chip was the first one to the table. He ripped open the expandable packaging of the trays, and grabbed several pieces of bread. After making four sandwiches, he turned around and handed each of Solera and his roommates one.

“All right, let’s go.” Chip said, striding off back to the room. Solera stared at his back, puzzled. Why was this guy in such a hurry?

When Solera and Guinness entered the room, Chip no longer had any of his sandwich in his hand.

“You done?” He asked Solera, struggling to keep the food in his mouth with one hand while gesturing towards the helmet and ball with the other.

“...Yeah.” Solera muttered. He hadn’t noticed it before, but his mind was exhausted.

“Cool.” Chip turned to the talisman and began arranging components onto it again, completely ignoring Solera and Guinness.

Solera finished his sandwich as he put the helmet and ball back into the kit, which in turn he put into his backpack. Collapsing on the bed, he immediately fell asleep.